Question for an amature

[The Kook]

This may be a dumb Q for a lot of you, but here it is. What film do you all have best results with with a Leica IIIF? Color and BW? I am very new to RF as I find this type of photo much more rewarding than any digital. Thanks for any info.

In fact, any pointers on any subject concerning RF photog with a III or IIIF will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[doubs43]

That's far from being a "dumb" question but you'll get about as many different opinions as the number who reply. Everyone has their own "favorites" and really, it doesn't matter if you're using an SLR or a RF because the film doesn't know the difference.

For daylight shooting in B&W, I prefer Agfa APX-100. For "available light", I like Arista Pro 400 which is Ilford HP-5 or HP-5+.

I don't shoot a lot of color but Walgreens sells Agfa 200 & 400 speed film under their own name and it does fine IMO. Color is very personal in that everyone likes something different. I prefer film that gives a pastel rather than super-saturated, knock-your-eyes-out brilliance. Others like the latter stuff.

I hope this helps but I expect that once all the replies are in, you'll be more confused than ever! 😉

Walker

This may be a dumb Q for a lot of you, but here it is. What film do you all have best results with with a Leica IIIF? Color and BW? I am very new to RF as I find this type of photo much more rewarding than any digital. Thanks for any info.

In fact, any pointers on any subject concerning RF photog with a III or IIIF will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[wlewisiii]

Walker is so right about this. It's really a very personal decision in the end as it depends so much on a combination of film, lens and your tastes. It also depends on if you intend to do your own developing at all. I develope my own black and white film in Diafine and it's characteristics seriously impacts my film choice.

For myself, I prefer Kodak (Plus-X & Tri-X) for black and white and Fuji (Reala 100 & Superia 400) for color.

Pick one of each type and burn some rolls; see if you like it and then try something else. Repeat until pleased... 😀

William

 

[wyk_penguin]

In my opinion, if you use old lenses with your Leica IIIF, you should shoot B&W, not only for the historical feel 😀 but also some old LTM (Leitz and FSU) lenses do get a yellow tint through the years. :bang: Perfect for B&W, just don't shoot slide in yellowed lenses (unless you have a taste for yellow).

As for the choice of colour film, I don't think it matters really much if you get you film developed a 1-hour labs. Some of these labs have digital-printing, which means your film gets developed and them film-scanned, then the image is adjusted for colour satauration, white balance, exposure... and then it is the digital file that is printed........(Once I got a B&W developed in C-41, and I got COLOURED prints 😱 , those who share the experience will know what I mean......)

For slides I like Velvia (Fuji), but sometimes the colour satauration is just to high :bang: . I am also trying the C-41 B&Ws made by Kodak, since I don't have a dark room and developing Neopan is getting expensive. Anyone have experience with the Kodak C-41 B&Ws??

 

[julianphotoart]

I'll second wyk_penguin for those older LTM lenses BUT I have to say that when I put nice modern Cosina-Voigtlander LTM lenses on my IIIc, the colour film results are obviously as vibrant as with a new camera. It just never stops feeling weird to get such nice colour images from a camera made in 1946 or so.

 

[The Kook]

Thanks for the info, I really just plan on using B&W but occasionally I will have to use color. This forum has been a great help, thanks to all